


Lucky Feathers

by SetteLupe



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Altair-eagle, Falconers, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 11:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22849741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SetteLupe/pseuds/SetteLupe
Summary: Malík wasn't a falconer, he was never interested in it and wasn't yet interested in becoming one; moreover, in all the plans he had made for his life, there was nothing that could even vaguely concern a demanding and expensive animal to be kept like an eagle. Maybe a parrot, or rather a canary if he really wanted to.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1




	2. Taken from the waters

"Not this time, Kadar. I will not allow that"

"But Maliiiik looks! It’s so soggy and exhausted, it can't fly like this!"

Of course Malík saw it; he saw it all too well: it was from the beginning of the video call that the vile creature whom an unjust fate had assigned him as his brother continued to frame the trembling animal curled up on the bottom of the fishing boat. Now, normally, he didn't even bother this Kadar mania of picking up and bringing home whatever battered animals he found during his many trips, it was a nuisance, but nothing unmanageable. But this was all a different matter: the one on the bottom of the boat was a damned _eagle_!

"Absolutely not. I believe, among other things, it’s illegal to bring an eagle home. It also doesn't hurt, it’s only very wet; leave it on the shore: it will dry in the sun and fly away when it’s ready to do so"

The screen image turned sharply to frame Kadar's sullen face: "Oh, sure!" the boy snorted: "If before it won't be devoured by some stray dog or some other animal! Good heavens Mal, don't you watch the documentaries ?!"

"The harsh law of nature Kadar, what can I tell you ..." he replied, adamant, rolling his eyes: "An eagle so stupid as not to understand the difference between a lake and a tree branch wouldn’t have a very long life in any case. And if you have watched them properly, the documentaries, you should know that it’s not right to interfere with the mechanisms of nature; you will have already done a sufficiently good thing bringing it to shore "

"Tell that to her chicks, heartless man," Kadar replied brusquely: "You can be sure that mom and dad will know how you condemned to death an entire family of eagles with your selfishness"

Here it is again: the threat to tell everything to mom and dad was the one preferred by his sneaky younger brother; presented with an elaborate corollary of tearful puppy eyes and pitiful exaggerations, it was usually always able to convince both parents and Malík to accept any absurd request from Kadar. But not this time. This time Malík didn’t intend to yield: he would not have allowed this madness: "Sure" he retorted with a growl: "indeed, you know what I say? I will tell him myself. And I will also tell them that when you end up in jail for detaining a protected animal, I will bring you the oranges very gladly. I'm warning you, Kadar: if that beast goes through the house gate I'll call the police "

"I dare you"

"And I'll wait for you with the phone in hand" Malík threatened, closing the call abruptly.

He put the phone back on his desk and gave an exasperated sigh; why his crazy brother couldn't just help the hares and sparrows like any mentally healthy person?”

However, the worm of guilt had already begun to gnaw his soul (damn Kadar and his harangues), preventing him from returning to the report he wanted to finish by evening in order to enjoy the weekend. Certainly, taking an eagle home wasn't feasible, and almost certainly not even legal ... they could have run into serious trouble ... But what if that bird had really had a nest of chicks waiting for it? What if she ended up in the lake because she was too desperate to find food for her chicks to pay attention to prudence? Was it breeding season for birds of prey? Was the situation plausible? But above all, why was it always up to him to deal with this kind of situation?!

Malík furiously rubbed his hair in an attempt to clear his mind and continue his work, but the image of a hungry brood peeping more and more weakly continued to haunt him. _Damn bird! I hate her!_ He thought, definitively renouncing his intention to work on his report to pick up his cell phone and start a search on the internet, trying to figure out what to do to save the bloody eagle and not be imprisoned at the same time.

_There is a sanctuary with a veterinary clinic for wild birds about an hour's drive from here. Below I send you the link. Contact them. They will tell you what to do_. He wrote in a message to Kadar. It was all he could do.

This and hope that his brother was not too angry to read other messages on his part, that he still didn't decide to take the damned beast up to his house, or that he would hear him arrive so he could stop him before making a complete mess , perhaps convincing him to go directly to the sanctuary for birds of prey.

Wrong, wrong and wrong: too concentrated on his work, he didn't hear Kadar's car arrive, at least not until a tremendous chaos exploded downstairs; he found his brother leaning against the door that led to the garage, panting, with his arms covered with scratches, tears on his shirt and an embarrassed smile on his face: "ahem ... I had locked her in the trunk of the car but she is certainly related to Houdini ... I read your message right now, brother "he chuckled:" It's a wonderful idea! "

Malík looked at him grimly for almost a minute (a minute he took to remind himself that homicide is a more serious crime than imprisonment without permission of wild animals) before announcing with a low growl: "I'm going to call the police"

"No, wait!" Kadar moaned: "Have mercy on me, Malík! Listen, let's call him the sanctuary now! I promise I won't try to keep her!"

"You can bet that you won't. When this story is over, I swear I'll kick you right to mom and dad: this time you really exaggerated," Malík said in reply, too angry to be sensitive to his brother's pitiful pleasures, his eyes already focused on screen of his phone from which he was activating the call to the sanctuary.

"Lionheart Center for the Protection of Birds" answered a baritone voice on the other side after a couple of rings: "How can I help you?"

"Good morning, I am Malík Al-Sayf. My brother picked up a bird that had fallen into a lake. We believe it's an eagle, we wanted to bring it to you directly, but unfortunately it managed to free itself and is now making a mess in the garage”

The man on the other side chuckled: "Yes, well, usually we advise against trying to catch a wild animal if you are not an expert, it would have been enough to take it out of the water and take it to the shore and then point out the area where it had been sighted ... We would have done the rest. However if you give me your address I will come to pick it up as soon as possible "

Malík couldn’t avoid rolling his eyes with an exasperated snort: "When you arrive could you repeat this to my stupid brother? And maybe explain to him how wrong what he did was?"

The man on the other end of the line laughed good-naturedly: "I figured there was a child involved: it's always like this"

"More than a child we are dealing with a mental retardation in his case," Malík huffed, then proceeded to dictate the address of his home to the gentle falconer.

"However, to get the right equipment, could you describe the bird in question?"

"Yes, it's a big bird, it will be half a meter or more from the tail to the head ... It has a gray beak and brown legs ... Ah, and it is white," replied Malík, trying to remember as many details as possible about what he had seen during the video call with Kadar; he didn't even think about entering the garage, at least until he was joined by someone competent.

"White?" echoed the man on the other end of the line: "Does it look like the Harry Potter owl?"

"No, it's a bird of prey similar to an eagle, only that it is white with ocher streaks and on the wings ..."

"Wow!" the man exclaimed: "You have a Prior on your hands!" he exclaimed: "Fantastic! It's an extremely rare eagle specimen, you know? Don't worry though, it's not a wild animal: the Nizarite Eagles are a domestic breed of eagles and are all used to contact with humans. "

"You can't tell from the mess he's making up there," said Malík skeptically.

The falconer laughed again and closed the call recommending to pay attention but not worry: he would arrive within an hour.

Kadar had gone upstairs to clean up and change ... And probably also to have some privacy so he could rail and complain to himself about his older brother's cruelty.

Malík was alone in front of the garage door from which no more noises could be heard.

_Finally a moment of stillness_. It was the first thought, accompanied by a sigh of relief.

_Oh God, what if that beast killed himself?_

Malík had this ugly habit of always expecting catastrophic conclusions for every situation that he would face and then be persecuted by the fear that someone might suffer because of his lack of action ... Others would have called it good-natured, he stupidity.

_Damn. It may have caught on somewhere, or pulled on some heavy boxes ... I hate that beast!_

To persecute him now, there was not only the image of dying chicks but to it was added a new tremendous vision of their mother who was slowly suffocating crushed by a pile of boxes, so Malík couldn’t avoid ignoring his own common sense and open the door a little to check what was happening in the dimly lit garage.

The eagle lay sprawled on the floor, in fact, but she wasn’t crushed by anything thanks to heaven. However, her legs and wing were entangled in a tangle of leather laces. _Poor thing ... Oh, damn her: I can't leave her so tied for over an hour ... God, I hate her! I'll end up leaving a finger!_ He groaned to himself.

He took courage by taking a deep breath and crossed the threshold, taking care to immediately close the door behind him: "Ok girl, now be good: I want you out of here as much as you want to leave, but we have to wait for your chauffeur, and you can't wait for another hour or even more before being released from those laces. Let's try to be civil and work together until then, okay? " he murmured approaching slowly with hands open because he hoped in this way to show the animal his good intentions.

The eagle stared at him the whole time with marvelous amber eyes, following each of the slow movements with which he proceeded to untangle the skein of leather laces. The knots that tied the straps to the paws required a bit of work, but in a few minutes Malík could wrench his hands away triumphantly.

The eagle continued to stand still, staring at him with his head tilted in that curious attitude that birds have when they look at something that attracts them. Malík tilted his head to the side imitating her: "So the guy was right," he muttered, unable to stop a slight smile from pulling his lips: "you really are a good girl. Good and beautiful too, I have to admit," he added, taking courage and holding out again his hand to touch the beautiful plumage. The animal still remained motionless, and Malík deduced that the caresses didn’t displease her.

He was halfway through the second caress when the eagle decided to observe the human's behavior long enough: she twisted her neck in too fast a stroke for him to retreat and dealt a peck powerful enough to open a deep cut on the poor man's ring finger. Malík grabbed his injured hand and jerked back as his attacker got up and, with a single flap of wings, reached a closet on the other side of the garage and then started staring at him again.

"Damn bitch!" Malík howled, instantly forgetting any positive thoughts about that winged demon: "I hope they’ll cook you in the oven soon!" he added before hurrying out of the garage, slamming the door.

When the doorbell rang, both brothers were intent on healing their injuries, one in the bathroom and the other in the kitchen, still angry at each other.

"Good morning, I'm Robert, Robert De Sable, from the Lionheart center, we spoke on the phone a while ago" the falconer politely presented himself at the door, a bald giant so big that he had to bow his head to enter the door.

"Good morning, I'm Malík, this is my brother Kadar. Please come in: the eagle is this way" cut short Malík who didn’t really want to get lost in frenzies until that winged demon stayed in his house, while Kadar seemed to have decided to give Robert the infinite and heartfelt speech that he probably had originally prepared for his parents, following the man during his preparations so closely that on a couple of occasions he risked being trampled.

"Here she is, she's on top of that closet," whispered Malík to the falconer once the three had sneaked into the garage.

Robert was far less stealthy in his approach: "Altaïr!" it thundered loud enough to make the walls vibrate: "what are you doing here?" he laughed soon after.

The eagle seemed to recognize him even though he did not seem happy at all to see him: he spread his wings and tail threateningly and emitted a sharp screech.

"Young man, now I can tell you with certainty that there are no broods about to die of starvation: Altaïr isn’t reproducing and ... he’s not even female" chuckled Robert giving a light pat on Kadar's shoulder: "besides your brother was right to tell you to leave him alone: he’s a rather surly guy you know? " he concluded by winking at Malík who felt a sudden surge of sympathy towards the giant.

"No chicks?" Kadar yelped disappointedly earning his brother a slap on the back of the neck.

"So you know its owner I guess"

"Of course, I’ll bring Altaïr directly to him as soon as I catch him: it’s not the first time that this swindler runs away ... Uhm ... by chance you have noticed leather laces tied to his paws?"

"Oh yes. It was… I took them away from him because he had rolled them up until he couldn’t move, I apologize"

"No problem," Robert assured him: "they would have made it easier to take him for sure, but I think I can handle him equally without problems," he added, extracting a piece of raw meat from a bag that immediately attracted Altaïr's attention.

Huge mistake.


	3. Sometimes they come back

Twenty sutures.

Twenty fucking stitches!

Malík couldn’t believe it. Not even at that moment, with his jaw clenched in a desperate attempt not to shout while a nurse (with obvious past as a tuff quarryer judging by the delicacy of her hands) was applying the last dressings to her left arm. It was truly amazing how much damage that overgrown hen had caused!

Kadar, the other culprit of that disaster besides Altaïr, was perched on a stool nearby with an ice pack pressed on his head. The boy had at least the good sense to stand in his corner with a contrite air, unlike his accomplice who had left Malík's house screeching and shaking fiercely from inside a cat carrier.

Robert had left them his contact details, and had plunged into a plethora of apologies telling them that he was insured and that he would be absolutely available to compensate them for all the damages, but Malík didn’t intend to ask even a penny: he didn’t consider the giant falconer responsible of what happened, but rather his stupid brother and his feathered companion.

"Mal" Kadar whined as soon as the nurse had finished his work: "Do you think we could call Ezio? To go home I mean ... you know, not to have to take the bus ... I feel dizzy..." but he fell silent immediately when he met his brother's murderous gaze: "The bus is fine" he corrected himself before curling up even more on his stool.

The return trip would certainly have been more comfortable if they had called their friend Ezio to accompany them with his luxury car, especially for Malík whose left arm was blocked against the chest by an orthopedic brace and was therefore unusable, but he wasn’t of the mood of having to converse with the rowdy Italian.

As soon as he got home he recovered, not without difficulty, the cell phone from his left pocket and dialed the number of the parents; he had no longer spoken to his brother and Kadar knew well that it was not the time to try one of his harangue: Malík was rarely so furious, but when it happened it was much better not to hinder him in any way.

The woman sighed heavily, she knew her son well enough to understand from his tone that something serious had happened: "Okay ... I guess you prefer to keep the car, if you haven't forced him to go back alone with it, so why aren't you going to accompany him? You both come to dinner here and then you go home with the car. Dad misses both of you at home, he was saying this to me just yesterday ... "

"Neither of us can drive right now"

The woman's first condescending and patient tone suddenly changed: "My ... What happened? Are you all right? Are you in the hospital?"

"No, we are already back. Kadar has a slight concussion, nothing serious if he can stay out of my reach until you arrive, I have an unusable left arm. Neither of us can drive and I don't want my brother here."

"In what sense is it _unusable_? Malík, will you please tell me what happened?"

Malík sighed: the poor woman, who actually seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown, deserved a better explanation. He put aside the anger for the sake of his mom and began: "This morning Kadar brought an eagle home and he let it run away from the car in the garage. We called a falconer to catch it, but that beast attacked him and Kadar had the brilliant idea of jumping into the fray. During the fight they hit the shelving in the garage and dropped it on me."

"Oh, Malík! That shelf is huge!"

"Yes, and very heavy. There were also the reserve beams of the gazebo resting there; they, falling, hit Kadar on the head, but fortunately they also blocked the eagle in a small space from which it was easier to catch it"

"And you? Were you still down there?"

"Yeah ... I was lucky: I only have a sprained wrist and some cuts"

On the other end of the line Malík heard a muffled sob; he immediately felt guilty: "Mom, we are both well and there were not so many damages" he tried, the anger and rancor towards Kadar completely forgotten in the face of the woman's desperation: "It's just that I need a little peace: with Kadar around I can't work and now it will be even harder ... I really need to be a little alone"

"Sure Chick. Dad finishes working in a couple of hours: as soon as he gets home we leave. We'll get to you as soon as possible, okay?"

"Ok, see you later, thank you"

"Imagine, hello Chick"

It was only towards evening that the bell rang, finally announcing the arrival of the boys' parents. This time Kadar's pathetic apologies did not serve to spare him a severe earful and Malík was able to add the satisfaction of that show to the pleasure of savoring his mother's cuisine again, who to console him gave his best in the kitchen. All in all he could not deny that, in a certain sense, being crushed under the gigantic shelf because of that cursed bird, had not been so negative, considering what he had received in return.

The house was wonderfully quiet in the days that followed, and Malík was able to bask in the quiet for about three days ... before his new worst nightmare materialized in his living room.

Pooping on the sofa, too.

Back from the kitchen with a bowl freshly filled with chips, he found him perched on the back of the sofa, looking around as if looking for someone. A large pool of damp guano was showing off on the seat cushions.

"YOU?!" Malík roared between the outraged and the furious: "What are you doing here ?! Fly away! Go away!" He tried.

"Chip!" _Hi Malík!_

The innocent joy that Altaïr showed when he saw him left him baffled, but Malík didn’t intend to allow that winged nightmare to further destroy his existence and his home with his presence. He abruptly placed the bowl on the first shelf at hand and ran to get a broom to scare the bird and force him to escape through the open window he had evidently used to enter.

"Get out of here ugly beast!" he exclaimed brandishing his weapon: "or I swear that ... I ... I sweep you to death!"

Malík desperately needed to review his arsenal of threats.

Altaïr watched him carefully with his head tilted to the side; then, after a few moments, he bent down to grab the new jesses tied to his paws with his beak and yanked them a bit and then went back to look at him. The message seemed clear: _remove them_!

"How dare you come here and ask me such a thing?" Malík screeched in response (?!) to the eagle: "go away! I don't want you in my house!"

_Remove them_! _Altaïr looked at Malík, looked at the tip of the broom that sank into the soft plumage of his chest, but retracted as soon as he came into contact with the skin below, then looked back at the funny biped. Strange humans had encountered a lot during his lifetime, but this surpassed them all._

_Since, with humans, one must be very patient because everyone knows that they are not particularly intelligent creatures, Altaïr repeated his request more blatantly and slowly as soon as the biped removed the tip of the broom from his chest._

_Remove them_! _Remove them_!

Malík would have really wished to be as cruel as his tongue promised and then hit hard with his broom that nasty annoyance perched on his sofa; the sad reality, however, was that he didn't really have the strength to hit an animal who basically couldn't understand the disaster he had caused a few days earlier.

The fact remained, however, that Altaïr was not welcome to Malík's home.

"I won't take those away from you, so resign yourself and go back to where you came from" he retorted in an authoritative voice: "Come on, go away" he added, speaking slowly and using the tip of the broom to gently push the animal on his chest, because he could not hit him not even to think; maybe speaking slowly and physically urging him he would have understood that he had to leave: the birds are not particularly intelligent, everyone knows it, so maybe he just needed to be helped to understand ...

Altaïr looked at Malík, looked at the tip of the broom that sank into the soft plumage of his chest, but retracted as soon as he came into contact with the skin below, then looked back at the funny biped. Strange humans had encountered a lot during his lifetime, but this surpassed them all.

Since, with humans, one must be very patient because everyone knows that they are not particularly intelligent creatures, Altaïr repeated his request more blatantly and slowly as soon as the biped removed the tip of the broom from his chest.

_Remove. Them._

Malík was dumbfounded for a moment: "Wait, does that mean you don't want to leave until I get them out?"

Altaïr turned his head away to mend his feathers in a gesture that had always helped him think: the human hadn't understood. Not completely, even if at least the matter of taking the jesses away had come to him, he didn't intend to leave after being freed from those annoying laces.

"I don't intend to come to terms with a feathered"

Altaïr would have laughed if the anatomy of its beak had allowed it: it was rather _he_ , who had no intention of coming to terms with a miserable mammal. What the hell was so complicated about untying a couple of knots with those weird sprawling appendages they had? He had already done it a few days before, so he was capable of it ... that the fool had resented being punished with a beak? Impossible, it was certainly a question of another kind, after all what could he expect, if not a peck, after making the metal of his bracelet reflect a blade of sunlight directly in his eyes? It had been a spite. Maybe he just didn't want to obey.

Well, if it was a race of stubbornness that the human wanted, Altaïr was not only very ready, but also almost certain that he had the assured victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not write it in the notes of the first chapter, but I would be very happy to know your opinion about this story. So if you have suggestions to suggest or perhaps you have noticed errors to correct, I would be happy and honored to read your reviews. ^.^


	4. A comfortable perch

Cowardly, incorrect and sneaky. In short, an unspeakable behavior. With what courage could Malík have been shown in public after such an action? Instead of tackling the fight honorably he had called Robert again! So here they are, both staring at him talking to each other in that strange language typical of humans. Despite having lived with them since he was a chick, he still struggled to understand everything they said.

Robert took a step towards him, and Altaïr wasted no time in showing his most ferocious attitude: this time he intended to continue to look at the pet carrier from outside, as he was doing now, and he just didn’t intend to tolerate that those large handles of his still close once on its precious livery. The human seemed to understand the message and withdrew prudently.

"You know Malík, I have to admit I'm a little unsure about trying to catch him, given how things went last time"

The other snorted annoyed, but couldn’t deny the wisdom of the falconer's words: "So? I don't want him in my house. Maybe we could call his owner," he proposed.

"Mister Al-Sinad doesn’t drive and it would take too long to go and get him and then bring him back ... Not to mention that Altaïr doesn't necessarily pay attention to him either: he’s a very stubborn bird, you know?"

"Don't tell me ... so what?"

Robert took a moment to reflect: "You said he didn't run away when you threatened him with a broom, right?"

"No, he said he wouldn't move until I freed him of those laces again"

"Did Altaïr _tell_ you?"

"Yes, that is ..." Malík groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose; if he seemed crazy even half of what he felt after thinking back to what had just come out of his mouth, it was really a miracle that Robert had not already escaped. That man was to be a saint.

The falconer, for his part, chuckled and put everything aside with a wave of his hand: "exactly what did he do? I mean to communicate"

"He stared at me, then, making sure I was following what he was doing, he pecked and tugged the laces ..."

"Jesses"

"What it is. He wrinkled them a little and then looked at me again. When I didn't react he repeated everything, he did it three times"

Robert nodded thoughtfully: "but he didn't attack you, huh?"

"I don't think I gave him any reason," Malík shrugged.

Robert nodded to himself and leaned over to grab a thick falconer's glove from his bag which he held open as if he wanted Malík to put his hand in it.

"The last employee of Mr. Al-Sinad found himself with half his face destroyed for threatening Altaïr with a broom. So if he didn't attack you when you did it, it could mean one thing: he was never in his intentions harm you in any way. I think you like him. "

Malík snorted incredulously and squared the glove distrustfully.

"I'm pretty sure he'll let you take it, and maybe it's the only way to solve the matter without harm."

This time Malík's exhalation was due to the resignation: "Are you sure of what you are doing?"

"Do you want a nice lie or a ugly truth?"

Malík put his right hand into the glove: "mark it, so you don't risk forgetting it: on my tombstone I want an epitaph that you recite _I had said, which wasn’t a good idea_ "

Robert chuckled nervously, "You're not an optimist by nature, are you?"

"An optimist is only a misinformed pessimist"

Robert chuckled again as Malík cautiously approached the eagle now very interested in what was happening.

It isn’t that a single good idea would ever redeem the big man in the eyes of Altaïr, but it was also true that he was a magnanimous and honorable eagle (as well as modest) so it was with royal detachment that he recognized Robert to have had a good idea to give Malík one of the gloves needed to become a more comfortable perch and therefore to suggest that he get closer so that Altaïr could sit down. Of course, apparently he would have had to keep the jesses tied to his paws unfortunately, but he was curious to prove what it was like to be kept on the fist by Malík and hoped that the sensation would have been pleasant enough to repay him for the annoyance of the bonds.

Malík approached following Robert's instructions and continuing to visualize an endless series of catastrophic outcomes of the current situation in his mind.

"Well, now put your hand on your paws and press lightly against them to entice him to get on your wrist. Don't be frightened: he could open his wings and wave them a little to keep in balance"

To Malík's surprise, however, nothing of the sort happened: as soon as he put his gloved hand close enough, Altaïr climbed on it elegantly, observing him with what seemed a satisfied and pleased expression.

Robert nodded and applauded: "Congratulations, great catch; now hold the jesses in your hand: they will serve to keep him in case he tries to escape again"

Malík obeyed and watched for a few seconds the animal resting on his fist unable to hold back a smile: wow, it was an electrifying feeling to have such an impressive animal so close, even through the thick leather glove he could feel the strength of the grip of the big curved claws. He intensely wished not to have his left hand blocked by the dressings so he could touch that magnificent livery: "He's heavy" he chuckled: "but much less than I thought"

"It's a bird," Robert reminded him with a warm smile. "You like it? It's a nice feeling to have such an animal resting on your arm, isn't it?"

Malík nodded without being able to erase the smile from his face or take his eyes off the wonderful bird of prey: "I didn't think it could be like this"

"Listen, Malík, would you like to come with me? To accompany Altaïr at home, I mean: if your presence reassures him, maybe he will stay calm and not make too many tantrums"

Malík took a few seconds to ponder the proposal, after all, he had nothing to do and was curious to see what the infernal mouth looked like capable of regurgitating the kind of feathered demons to which Altaïr belonged.

He ended up agreeing and soon found himself climbing a narrow road winding through an impressive landscape of peaks and overhangs, dotted here and there with imposing ruins that covered an historic arch from the Roman era to the Middle Ages.

Robert's car was a large and comfortable light gray truck that the falconer drove with delicate firmness, so as to make the journey pleasant despite the roughness of the road they had taken. Altaïr, for his part, seemed accustomed to traveling while sitting in someone's arms: he curled up on Malík's legs as soon as he had taken his place, being careful not to use his claws to tighten the thin fabric of his trousers and the tender underlying skin, therefore he stretched his neck to look out the window with compassionate composure.

"It is a vice that Mr. Al-Sinad has given him. To travel in someone's arms or in the passenger seat I mean"

Malík roused himself abruptly from the admired trance in which he had slipped, realizing only at that moment that he had spent at least a quarter of an hour watching enchanted Altaïr. He smiled embarrassed: "I didn't think eagles could behave like this"

"Oh, usually they don't, _mon amie_. It's a typical attitude only of the Nizari Eagles: they are very intelligent creatures and their behavior is more similar to that of a dog than that of other birds of prey."

Malík nodded: "You said they are domestic eagles, is that why they are like that?"

"Exact"

"What about the others? I mean, I thought that all the birds of prey used today were born in captivity .... That is ..."

Robert chuckled as he seemed to do practically on every occasion: "They are, they are: but you see, there is a huge difference between domestication and training. Normal birds of prey are trained animals, that is, they retain both the somatic and behavioral behavior of a wild animal, but they are grown and trained by getting them used to humans and living in contact with them. The Nizari Eagles instead underwent a targeted selection, both from a physical and behavioral point of view, aimed at making them different from their conspecifics and more suitable for them to relate to humans. A bit like what happened to dogs, cows and horses to mean "

Malík nodded: "He looks like a completely different bird now, compared to which tried to kill us all in my garage," he remarked.

"Yes, well, with Altaïr it’s always like this: if you like him and do things as he likes he’s an angel. If he dislikes you instead, it's over for you ... I’m a glaring example unfortunately" he admitted, with a hint of sadness, Robert.

"And what wickedness would you have stained yourself to earn such a grudge, if I can ask?"

Robert returned to his good-natured laugh; Malík honestly did not understand how, a sweet and sunny person like Robert, could be the target of so much hatred by an animal.

"Oh, a series of iniquities. The most serious I think was stealing his Fruit of Eden"

"Its ... what?"

"Yes, in short, his Apple of Paradise"

Malík stunned his gaze from Robert to Altaïr who had turned as if he were following the conversation and gave him a look that seemed to mean _yes, Malík: he dared so much_.

"It's a toy," Robert explained amusedly. "It's his favorite: a golden ball that looks vaguely like an apple. Oh, you have to see him when he plays with it! It's like he's in heaven; that's why we started to call it his Fruit of Paradise or similar. I take it to force him to get close to me enough to catch him when I have to catch him to undergo routine veterinary checks ... And of course I am always the one keeping him still during these procedures. Mr. Al-Sinad is no longer a young man now and Altaïr is very strong, so often we at the Lionheart center go to his farm to help him manage him and the most problematic birds of prey. That weirdo old man and his companion present here have managed to get away all the assistants who worked on the farm and now Rashid is only to take care of the eagles "

Malík chuckled: "Ah, now I understand: you really are a cruel man ... and I thought you were so kind!" He joked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't write it in the notes of the first chapter, but I would be very happy to know your opinion about this story. So if you have suggestions to suggest or perhaps you have noticed errors to correct, I would be happy and honored to read your reviews. ^.^


	5. Masyaf

Bird guano is not an easy stain to clean up, especially if it is on the fabric of a sofa and has been forgotten there for several hours.

Especially if you sat on it having returned to the house without turning on the lights and you let yourself fall, forget about the stain in question, right above it.

Fortunately, there was no one in the house who could testify to the horrible things that came out of Malík's mouth when he realized what had happened and, subsequently, when he had to take hours to remove stains from his trousers and upholstery.

All the while the absurd warning of the wacky owner of Altaïr sounded in his head: "Since ancient times the breeders of these creatures have discovered that they are powerful talismans. Pleasing and venerating them brings great luck to its owner; on the contrary , big bad luck will come upon those who disrespect them "

What an idiocy: Altaïr had brought him trouble, free of charge.

When he finally managed to put the mess on the sofa and the one inside his mind he took a coffee and sat on the veranda to think about the day.

___

The farm that Robert had talked about was nothing less than a majestic fortified citadel, complete with walls and threatening gates reinforced by metal bands. Malík had felt himself plummeting to another era, so much so that he would not have been so surprised if he had met some odd apparition dressed in armor and brandishing a scimitar or something. Too bad the state of poor abandonment in which it poured: if in fact from a distance Masyaf kept its austere splendor unchanged, you could see close up how inclement weather had been with its buildings clearly uninhabited for years. Nobody wandered through the winding alleys, nobody stopped in the squares overgrown with weeds, which had largely torn the pavement with their roots, many of the window doors hung precariously from corroded hinges, since nobody had cared for years to fix ; instead of many doors only sad mouths of shadow opened, frozen in a cry to which only the winter winds that sneaked in returned a semblance of voice.

Yet in ancient times it must have been a rich and prosperous city, although not very large even by the standards of the time. There were many delightful little details, to tell it to Malík: a small statue nestled in the niche of a house, the architrave of a balcony whose carefully carved bas-reliefs were still visible under the shriveled tendrils of a dead dead climbing plant, the mosaic of a house that still showed the words "cave canem" under the image of a large black mastiff, the numerous fragments of frescoes that peeped out where the protrusion of a roof or a cornice had protected them from weather inclement weather. Malík felt a mixture of sadness and amazement at the sight of that place.

Masyaf's only current resident had made a modest home in what appeared to have been a warehouse of some kind. Rashid Al-Sinad was a severe man, with one side of his face devastated by an impressive scar that must have deprived him of the view from that eye, at least judging by the opalescent patina that covered the deformed pupil. He was waiting for them in the square of the castle at the top of the town, serious, composed, apparently made of the same stone as the walls.

"Leave my son free" was the only greeting he said to Malík who was trying to get out of the car and at the same time to calm a suddenly and inexplicably agitated Altaïr.

Thank goodness Robert rushed to help him, untangling him from the lead and the laces of the glove: "You can let go of the jesses" he instructed him: "you’ll see that he won't go far: he’s used to being free inside the fortress"

Malík's fingers had just loosened his grip when he felt the jesses slip through, dragged by Altaïr's legs that moved away from his wrist, leaving him with a surprising sensation of loss. In less than an instant the eagle had crossed the square, made a turn around his frowning owner and had fled so high that he almost disappeared from sight.

It was then that Rashid had approached Malík, pronouncing the longest sentence of that entire afternoon while he was looking at him from bottom to top: "Altaïr is a sacred animal, I raised him as if he were the son of my blood. As well as I raise and call son each of the specimens of which I am keeper. Never again dare to try to keep him from reaching his father. " He sentenced; then he continued (interrupting Robert's explanations of how Malík wasn’t a falconer and how he simply hadn’t understood that Altaïr intended to fly): "Since ancient times the breeders of these creatures have discovered that they are powerful talismans. Pleasing and venerating them brings great luck to its owner; on the contrary, great misfortunes will fall upon those who disrespect them. I am the last keeper of this tradition. Respect the history and traditions of your land, boy, or prepare to face the consequences. "

The rest of the conversation was carried out mainly by Robert, jovial and absolutely refractory to the old man's apparent hatred. Malík simply sat rigidly on one of the old chairs in the small kitchen (which also served as a living room) of Rashid's house. He had never felt so uncomfortable in his life and mentally made a note never to accept an invitation to visit the fortress again.

___

Now, crouched on the sofa, in a finally silent house, with the shadows that crept becoming longer and darker with the fading of the sunset in the night, Malík had the opportunity to pause to think about another detail that he had left out at the moment: Rashid had warned him never to prevent Altaïr from reaching him again, calling himself his father, but in fact the eagle had not gone to him. He had limited himself to twirling around his figure and then immediately disappeared. Why had he behaved that way?

In fact, he had avoided the old man all afternoon, even at the time of the meal: he had grabbed his portion of chicken and had immediately left. Robert had assumed with some regret that perhaps it was his fault: Altaïr didn’tt seem willing to forgive him and perhaps didn’t trust himself to eat in his presence.

What a pity. He was a little sorry for that big man: have such an extraordinary creature close to him and know that he would never let himself be touched of his own free will ... on the contrary he had luck with Altaïr, if what he had been told about that bird was correct: he still had his face and hands attached to his body despite having touched him several times. His skin still tingled at the memory of the sensation of contact with the animal; it was something almost alien, so distant from any animal that he happened to touch in his life: birds of prey are different from all other animals, he thought enjoying the memory of the trip by car with Altaïr cuddled on his lap.

His lips stretched into a smile when, making an odd connection, his mind reminded him that in fact he had somehow held a dinosaur in his arms. We never think about it because a parrot or a pigeon do not respond sufficiently to the acquired stereotype of the dinosaur that everyone has, therefore they never awaken the thought; but a bird of prey is another thing, especially when it has the tonnage of Altaïr.

A dinosaur perched on my fist ...

He was sorry to see him fly away. He had to admit it, feel the leather of the jesses slip between his fingers without being able to do anything to prevent it, had left him with a feeling of emptiness that he wouldn’t have expected ... who knows what it was instead to feel him land on his arm. Oh, it must have been fantastic: a creature so powerful, so wild and extraordinary decided to descend from beyond the clouds in response to his call ....

Malík suddenly shook himself out of his daydream, shaking his head and rubbing his face and hair: "What the hell are you thinking ?! Are you maybe crazy?" he scolded himself out loud. Right: that beast had to stay on his mountain, while Malík's place was on the other side. Malík wasn’t a falconer, he was never interested and he was not interested in becoming one; moreover, in all the plans he had made for his life, there was just no place for a demanding and expensive animal to keep like an eagle. Maybe a parrot, or rather a canary if he really wanted to; and it was repeating this and how he didn’t love birds of prey and their strange world that he went to sleep.

But apparently he wasn’t such an able speaker when it came to convincing his subconscious mind, since his dreams were all feathers of gold and ivory, excerpts of clear sky and steel claws holding his wrist without wound him, went down from sky to his call accompanied by shining amber eyes.

And damn him if they weren't bloody beautiful.


	6. Outing

"So, are you still an itinerant embroidery or have, those _benedetti punti 1_, taken away from you?"

Malík jerked the phone a good ten centimeters away from his ear: Ezio had this horrible habit of speaking too loud on the phone; yet he couldn’t be annoyed to hear his friend's ringing voice: "I’m happy to communicate that I’m officially a free man since last Thursday" he replied cheerfully.

"Bene! So tomorrow you are busy: we are going to be just the two of us, plus my brother and sister of course. We are going to take the Big Snake and we will get to the fence of Nine Seconds, we will do a couple of crossings and then we will stop at lunch at Adal. Meeting at my house at half past eight with the engines already warm! "

Malík chuckled: "Okay, so I'll be there at nine, so I'll only have to wait for your delay for half an hour."

Ezio burst into his warm laugh and ended the call with the usual promises of how, this time, he would have been super punctual instead. Always promises equal to themselves as much as the habit of breaking them.

Malík put the phone back in his pocket and went humming to himself towards the garage where he kept his most precious treasure to prepare it for the next day's trip. The electric blue hull of his motorbike greeted him with sapphire flashes as soon as he removed the protective sheet, tearing a sigh that would not have been out of place between the lips of a lover who greeted his beloved after a long separation.

It had definitely been a fantastic week: the second day of freedom from his annoying brother, at work he hadn't been so harassed by his boss, no feathered intruder had come to destroy his home, the next day a motorbike trip was waiting for him on one of the most beautiful roads in the area for a motorcyclist (the Big Snake was a nickname that the bikers had attached to the route because of the numerous sinuous curves that characterized it) and in addition, a splendid weather was expected all weekend. Even the idea proposed by his reckless friend to visit Nine Seconds was to be counted among the joys that awaited him that weekend in fact: the real name of Nine Seconds had never discovered, and the one given to him in common agreement by the gang of bikers of which Malík was a part, had been inspired by a series of large signs posted at regular intervals on the fence of his enclosure that read "You can cross this pasture if you take less than eight seconds to do it. Because the bull needs nine"

Yes, Nine Seconds was a huge bull. Young, fast, as well as extraordinarily territorial and short-tempered. The signs had appeared only one week after his arrival in that pasture (Probably after some accident with tourists who are too animal lovers and poorly educated on bovine ethology) and until their posting, in none of the motorcycle company he had aroused the least interest.

But such a sign couldn’t be ignored: from that moment, visits to his enclosure had become one of their favorite pastimes, and it seemed that Nine Seconds had also ended up finding fun to participate in those kinds of improvised _corrida de recortes_ ... Probably also because of the fact that he was punctually rewarded for the fun provided with large handfuls of sugars, fruits and vegetables that were thrown into the paddock by the boys when they took their leave.

Speaking of pestiferous animals, who knows how Altaïr was doing ... Malík shook his head abruptly: he had to stop thinking about that bird. Altaïr was fine where he was, and not seeing him again ensured both safety and peace.

Malík's peace was undoubted, as far as Altaïr was concerned, those had been two weeks of hard work: like many animals that live in close contact with humans, Altaïr had a vague idea of what it meant to work. He knew that the Father fed him and his fellow men with chickens, pigeons, rabbits and guinea pigs which he himself raised; he also knew that however, in order to grow and feed the latter, the Father exchanged the food they ate with bits of paper that he obtained by making Altaïr do some things: in those two weeks in particular they had frightened birds. Altaïr liked to chase pigeons and starlings (he hardly ever took them because Father said that eating their meats could make him sick and immediately took away any prey he could catch); Father woke him up before dawn, put him in a car in his favorite place and made him look at the view while carrying him around until sunset. They visited orchards, newly sown fields, airports and even some warehouses where Altaïr's job was basically to bully until the unwanted birds thought that this was now his hunting ground, thus deciding that it was better to leave the area in order not to fall victim of his attacks.

Funny, but also very tiring.

Finally, after what had seemed an eternity, the car that came every day to pick him up and the Father never came again, and he showed up late in the morning to open the aviary doors without calling him. It was a sign that the job was done and Altaïr could go where he wanted. He also stayed around for a couple of days to make sure that the Father really didn't need him anymore, because he was well aware of the fact that he in particular was one of the Father's main sources of income, and it was therefore his primary responsibility to do what in his power for the sustenance of the Family.

Malík, however, could now return to his thoughts, therefore, on the third day of inactivity of the fortress, he chose the most suitable air flow to reach the boy's house and quickly moved away from the high walls of his house.

He found his goal in the driveway at home, intent on preparing for departure one of those funny means of transport on which humans sometimes love to ride astride; he screamed a greeting but Malík blatantly ignored him and, without looking up to the sky even once, he slipped a kind of plastic egg on his head and started the motor of the motorcycle (right, motorcycle, that was what they were called that). The eagle's first reaction was outrage and anger: how dare he ignore it so insolently ?! But then he remembered Rauf, one of the most experienced and oldest eagles in the family, and how he had instructed him on the limited capabilities of humans: the poor creatures had a bad hearing and were practically blind; moreover they did not have the instinct to look up to the sky to detect any dangers coming from above, moreover they had very few predators, therefore only the humans trained to take care of their people regularly monitored what happened over their heads. It was therefore plausible that Malík had not heard him and still less seen him.

Not bad, he decided: he would follow him from above and give him a nice surprise as soon as he stopped somewhere where it was easy to land.

The first stop in Malík didn’t offer such a possibility: the large house in front of which he had parked the motorbike was in a point where the wind formed annoying whirlpools of air at low altitude; in addition, the garden was manned by a ramshackle and noisy band of large dogs that would undoubtedly have caused a pandemonium to see him and would have spoiled his surprise. Especially since Malík had immediately entered the building which had no accessible open windows. So the eagle had no choice but to remain at altitude by describing lazy circles above the mansion and keeping an eye on Malík's motorcycle.

After almost an hour, Altaïr had almost lost hope of seeing his new favorite human come out of that damned house when he came out accompanied by three other bipeds that hopped and screamed like rabbits in love. He knew the road they chose to travel well enough, and he knew how long he would have to wait before finding a place to land.

He didn’t have enough patience for this, so he decided that he would change his strategy: he descended altitude taking speed, and at the right moment he dived into the trees that once formed above the road to emerge behind the small group of motorcyclists.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.Benedetti punti = >Blessed stitches


End file.
